Psoriasis is a chronic immune disease that is recurrent. Due to the skin's immune system disorder, the increased skin cells form a thick dander. The red desquamation plaque easily regrows on the scalp, face, body, and limbs of patients, and most of the patients cannot be cured all their life. Some patients with psoriasis will also have psoriatic arthritis, causing joint inflammation and swelling. The psoriasis is not only a skin disease, but also a systemic disease. 40% of patients have arthritis, and they have a higher chance of having hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or depression than a normal person.
The most commonly used method for the treatment of psoriasis is the use of topical medications, oral drugs, biological agents, and light therapy. Common topical medications contain: (1) Topical steroids, which are anti-inflammatory, and can inhibit cell proliferation. However, with long-term use on the thin skin, they will cause side effects such as skin atrophy; (2) Vitamin D can inhibit keratinocyte proliferation, and is anti-inflammatory, but there will be local irritation; (3) Topical retinoic acid can inhibit excessive keratinocytes, and promote keratinocyte differentiation, but the effect is poor; (4) Tar can help anti-inflammation and inhibit keratinocyte hyperplasia; (5) Moisturizers can prevent the skin from being too dry and stimulating inflammation. The oral drugs include: (1) MTX (methotrexate) has the main side effects of blood cell reduction and liver toxicity; and (2) Cyclosporine has the main side effects of blood cell reduction and renal toxicity; (3) Isotretinoin has the main side effects of abnormal liver function, elevated blood lipids, dry skin, and teratogenic embryos; (4) Systemic steroids are only given to pregnant women. Biological agents are injectable antibodies with immuno-regulatory functions. They are safe, but expensive, and the user must watch for tuberculosis. The time period of the light therapy should be evaluated and decided on by the physician, and the patient must go to the hospital.
The above-mentioned treatments of psoriasis generally have the disadvantages of high side effects, poor convenience, and high cost. Therefore, looking for non-steroidal treatments which are convenient and inexpensive will become a new trend in the future treatment of psoriasis.
It is therefore necessary to provide a composition having a Lactobacillus paracasei strain GMNL-653 for treating psoriasis, in order to solve the problems existing in the conventional technology as described above.